Proximity Reinforcement
by seh28
Summary: Lacey goes to Danny's house to tell him once and for all that they can't be friends. That they'll never be friends. Things turn out a bit differently than she expected. One-shot.


**Author's Note: This is probably the most angst filled piece I've ever tackled. So be kind. There are some darker elements included as well. Also, while it's not full on smut, there are some adult references, but I didn't think that warranted a full M rating. This is a one-shot (I'm so notorious for those). Hope you enjoy it! Oh, and review if you can. :)**

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Lacey felt the absolute epitome of discomfort. She felt nervous and anxious and uncertain to the tenth degree. She didn't like this unease that had crept into her being and disrupted her sense of normalcy ever since he had returned. She almost felt like she didn't know herself anymore. That calm, self assured, stubborn and tenacious person had somehow withered away, and the remains had crept down inside of her for shelter and protection. Sometimes part of her was still eleven years old when she looked at him, or thought of him, or dreamed of him. But one thing she knew for sure: Danny was a part of her life that was no longer the current state of her life. Those two halves, the past and the present, played a terrible game on her psyche.

A game, she determined, that her present self needed to win.

She simply felt as though she couldn't do this with him any longer. She needed to be clear. Clearer than she had been previously. Even if she had to be ruthless, she had to dig deep and try, because there was too much at stake. Too much that she couldn't bear, or have control over or comprehend. She had never asked for this life, this existence of being associated with a murderer, so she was done and she was going to make sure he really heard her this time.

Lacey gathered her strength and knocked on his door. As she stood there, she thought about how much she hated that house. It struck her how strange it must be to have a majority of her greatest childhood memories in a house that was also the scene of her worst. It was a juxtaposition that was startling. She knew that his mom wasn't there, which was something that Danny offered when she had texted him about meeting. That was going to be the last time she texted him, she vowed to herself silently.

She wanted him to delete her number from his phone in front of her. That's how certain she was about what she had to do and what was about to take place.

Danny was at the door so quickly that she had to gather bits of her resolve that weren't adequately placed, despite her alluding to the contrary. He assessed her silently as his patented half smirk flashed onto his face. It was gone quicker than it came, as he read her body language and her facial expression. If she was trying to look indifferent yet determined, it didn't translate that way. At least not to him.

"Come on in," Danny offered as he opened the door wider, his eyes not leaving her as she quickly brushed past him.

Lacey thought about having the conversation in the entryway but decided against it. She wanted to frame the entire conversation as something serious, not a trivial exchange of quick words and empty threats. She began to walk into the living room and instantly regretted her decision. She didn't want to sit on the couch, she wanted to stand, she wanted her feet rooted beneath her: for support, for leverage, for stability.

She needed that.

"You wanna sit?" Danny questioned behind her, almost as if he plucked the thought right from her mind with deft precision. Lacey halted at the entrance of the living room, and he slowed to keep from infringing upon her space.

"No, I won't be staying long." Lacey explained, as she turned around to face him.

That was the first moment she fully took in the sight of him, and it made her rock back on her heels just slightly. It was an involuntary reaction, but she wondered if he noticed it. She suspected that he had. She felt like he always saw everything. His eyes always caught too much, and then inquisitively and quietly dissected it. Lacey wondered briefly what went on in that head of his, but quickly remembered that she didn't want to know. Or rather couldn't know.

It wasn't any of her concern. Not anymore.

His long hair was pulled back haphazardly, a few stray pieces tucked behind his ears. The sleeves of his gray henley were pushed up to his elbows. She stopped when she realized that what he had on wasn't the point of this meeting, neither was his hair or his eyes.

"Okay," Danny offered tentatively as he tried to catch her eyes, tried to read exactly what was going on. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. She was fighting so hard to be cool and nonchalant, yet serious, but he saw through all of that. To him she looked unsure and confused. He wanted to know what she had to say. He wanted to know what this was all about. "What's going on?"

"You have to stop," Lacey asserted evenly, meeting his eyes in a fleeting manner, she didn't hold his gaze for long.

"Stop what?" Danny questioned, needing further clarification.

"Stop anything and everything that has to do with me." Lacey explained, she felt like she didn't know what to do with her hands. She felt as though she should be projecting a position of strength and power in the face of what she was trying to convey, yet she was lacking because her hands weren't cooperating. She crossed her arms in front of her, in an attempt to quit worrying about them.

"Lacey," Danny let out in a sweet mixture of a whisper and a sigh. He cocked his head to the side as he looked down, sliding his hands easily into his pockets. The way he was standing was distracting, his stance was wide. But if she was being truthful with herself, many things about him were distracting and disarming and disconcerting all at the same time, whenever she was around him. That was half the reason she was doing this. The other half was pure self preservation.

"I'm serious, Danny." Lacey insisted, trying to implement a stern tone into her words. "I'm not doing this anymore."

"We aren't doing anything at all," Danny exclaimed, his eyebrows knitted together in misunderstanding. "Least of all talking in public, that's half the problem."

"This isn't a joke or something your sarcasm can get you out of," Lacey assured him firmly. "It ends right here."

"What ends?" Danny questioned, but he already knew what she meant. He was still in a seemingly constant battle to hold her gaze for longer than three seconds.

"This," Lacey stammered motioning with her hand at the space between them, trying to dig deep within herself to access all of the words that would adequately put this to bed. "You and me. You have to stop. Stop everything. Stop trying to talk to me. Stop looking at me. Just stop. We aren't friends anymore, Danny. You and I aren't friends. We were at one point, but we aren't anymore. I don't know you and you don't know me. We're two completely different people now."

Those words hit Danny like a freight train, he gritted his teeth and his eyes closed quickly. He tried to rack his brain for how to respond to her verbal onslaught in a way that successfully counteracted it. Because what she was saying just simply couldn't be the case. The very thought of her truly meaning those words tore him up inside, it made him feel lost.

"You just need some time, that's all." Danny reasoned gently.

"I need more than that," Lacey scoffed, her voice quivering. The weight of her words and his presence was making her ache. "I need the reversal of time. I need the undoing of time. 5 years to be exact!"

"I can't undo what I did!" Danny exclaimed, uncharacteristically and abruptly losing his cool. His voice was louder than he had intended but the thought of losing her, losing her again was starting to make him panic. "I paid for it. And I'm still paying for it."

"You think you're the only one who paid a price?" Lacey retorted, her internal anger and frustration continuing to spiral in his direction. "My childhood was ruined!"

"Okay, you know what stop," Danny proclaimed hotly. "You managed to climb to the top of the social ladder at school. I'd say out of the three of us, you got the best deal!"

Lacey's hand met the side of his face with such force that it shocked the both of them to the core. She immediately felt sick, she couldn't believe she had slapped him. Her hand stung badly as intense feelings of regret and fear consumed her body. How could she have been so brazen, so unafraid to strike someone who had committed murder? Just because they used to be close? Just because they used to be friends? Lacey's whole body stiffened as she realized the implications of what she had just done.

Danny's jaw clenched as as he breathed through the pain that her hand had inflicted. To say that he was surprised that she had hit him would be an understatement, but it was within the realm of possibility, especially considering how much anger and blame she rightfully placed on his shoulders. Danny caught her eyes to gauge her reaction to what she had just done. They shone with such pain and anger and even fear. It broke his heart.

"Slap me again," Danny muttered as their eye contact held, the side of his face hurt like hell.

"What?" Lacey questioned, her voice shaking. His eyes were strangely calm and subdued. She knew she had heard him correctly, but that couldn't have been what he really said.

"Slap me a hundred more times if it'll help you forgive me." Danny pleaded, the emotion suddenly present in his voice almost made Lacey's knees buckle.

Lacey tore her eyes away from his and took a shaky deep breathe. She felt unhinged and unnerved, like her conscious mind wasn't allowing her to compute what had just happened, and how she had completely lost control and struck him. The most uncharacteristic thing she's ever done. She'd never slapped anybody ever, though Archie had definitely deserved it once or twice. The fact that she was consumed with almost every emotion possible whenever she was in Danny's vicinity, was a problem.

Further exemplifying why they couldn't be friends. Further proving why she needed this to end.

"This isn't going to work," Lacey explained softly, meeting his eyes for a split second. It was a torturous endeavor looking him in the eyes. She didn't know why it was such a difficult feat. "Let's just do what you said and leave the past in the past. We've got to just move on. But without each other."

"I don't know if I can do that," Danny answered sincerely.

"I hate you," Lacey muttered under her breath, that admission escaping against her own volition. It was more of a passing thought materialized into a soft utterance.

"Say that one more time but with conviction, and look at me." Danny instructed.

Lacey slowly steeled herself and met his eyes. She thought about every reason why she had decided to come to his house, every painful memory that was tied to him and every lost and lonely moment she had experienced as a kid. But the strange thing was, she saw the boy who used to be her best friend. The one she'd play tag with and the one who reassured her if she was having a bad day. She looked into his face and as much as he was completely different than she remembered, as much as he looked different, as much as his voice was different, his hair, his hands: she still recognized him. She still saw the boy whom she loved. And that was something that she couldn't come to terms with. She didn't really hate him, not truly. She'd never had a problem telling a necessary lie before, but the gravity of this wouldn't allow her to betray the truth. She remained silent as their eye contact held.

"Don't do this," Danny pleaded, the richness of his gaze seeked her out pointedly and spoke to her wordlessly.

"I can't," Lacey maintained with what little strength and resolve she had left. The energy in her body was so tiring, she wanted all of the tumultuous emotions to leave her. To leak out of her and let her be. "At least you have Jo."

"But I need you," Danny lamented seriously.

"Don't say that." It was her turn now to plead.

He was suddenly so much closer to her than he had been before, or maybe she just now realized the lack of distance between their bodies.

"But it's true," Danny replied gently. "You don't need me, but I need you. Just look at how well you've done without me."

"Danny, it was hell losing you," Lacey admitted cautiously as she watched him. "Don't act like it was easy or fun for me."

"Did you get the letters I wrote you?" Danny asked.

"I did," Lacey admitted taking a deep breath, her nose was met with his scent. Yet another entity to add to the mounting list of distractions. "But I never opened them. I couldn't."

Danny nodded as if he understood, a hint of anguish lined the features of his face. But they were gone quickly. Lacey noticed it and felt something intangible tug at her heartstrings.

"I still have them." Lacey admitted ruefully.

"Why did you keep them but not read them?" Danny inquired, this little admission gave him the second glimmer of hope of the evening. The first was her not being able to commit to hating him.

"I don't know," Lacey answered with a sense of honesty, she studied his dark features intently as she contemplated whether or not to tell him her reasoning. "I guess I just figured that maybe when I was much older, I'd want to read them. If and when I ever felt removed from the situation enough. If I ever stopped hurting. If I ever stopped missing you."

"There were a lot of letters," Danny pointed out, rather innocuously. A contradiction to his typical dark and brooding intensity.

"Yeah," Lacey agreed lightly. "Five years is a long time."

Danny wasn't quite sure where the compulsion to do what he did came from. But he felt almost systematically inclined to do it, almost as if it were a predisposition. He reached out slowly and brushed the bottom of her dark hair from her shoulder, exposing her collarbone. He placed his hand softly on her neck, watching her eyes, closely measuring her reaction. He ran his hand smoothly and methodically from underneath her chin, down the length of her neck and across her clavicle.

He did it so gently and with such care and precision that Lacey felt her breath catch in her throat.

Lacey knew she should disengage him. She knew that what was currently happening wasn't part of the plan when she knocked on the door, but she couldn't. And if she was being a hundred percent honest with herself, a big part of her didn't really want to. She was physically unable to move or speak or look away. Some invisible pull was too tremendous. All she could do was force herself to breathe.

"I'm sorry," Danny uttered, as his eyes scanned all her facial features in one smooth motion, then returned to her eyes. His hand still painting a picture on her neck and collarbone. The tips of his fingers would disappear briefly underneath the collar of her shirt when they reached the back of her neck.

"I'm sorry," Danny repeated himself. With such sincerity, with such grace yet so deliberately.

Lacey felt like she was getting lost in his eyes and in his touch. She thought that maybe she should respond to what he was saying, but she didn't have the faintest clue where to start. Those two words were passing through her and causing her to feel a thousand different things all at once, and she wasn't prepared for any of them.

She didn't have the proper facility for all of these emotions.

"I'm sorry."

There it was again. The purpose, yet vulnerability in his words and in his eyes was enough to make her knees shake a bit.

"I'm sorry." Danny spoke easily, putting the proper emphasis on each syllable.

"Okay." Lacey said in something just above a whisper. The way that he was touching her, coupled with those words, managed to calm her down and magnify her emotions all at once. The truest oxymoron.

"I'm sorry." Danny said, with the same cadence he used the last time and all the times before that.

"I hear you," Lacey insisted weakly. That last one hit her like a ton of bricks; she felt it in her body. Her eyes starting to sting like they do right before they water. It was almost enough to make her look away.

Almost.

"I'm sorry."

Lacey fought like hell to keep her tears at bay. She did not want to cry. She couldn't cry. All of the emotions that she was currently experiencing and had experienced since he had come back, in all the varying degrees, were not going to get the better of her. She wouldn't cry. She drew the line there. Oddly enough, his hand, still performing a masterpiece on her neck, made the tears subside. She rested her hand in the crook of his arm, not to stop him but to feel him. Similarly to the way that he was feeling her.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you doing?" Lacey questioned gently, more in a rhetorical manner than literal.

"Apologizing." Danny explained evenly, he was absolutely mesmerized by how gorgeous she was.

"And?" Lacey added for good measure. Because the repeated verbal apology wasn't the only thing that he was doing.

"Touching you." Danny acquiesced, his eyes momentarily left hers to follow the path of his hand.

The way that he said it was enough to send butterflies cascading through her stomach. She became distracted though when the angle of his face, with strands of hair in his eyes, brought something immediately to her attention. Rather involuntarily, she raised her hand to gently trace the outline of the red mark that was forming on the side of his face.

"It's getting red," Lacey said softly, almost absentmindedly. She wondered if it still hurt, she wondered if she should be the one apologizing.

"You hit me pretty hard," Danny admitted. "You're strong."

Lacey knew that was the truth: she was strong. Even when she didn't feel that way, even when she was withering away inside and her mind was threatening to shut down, she was strong enough to survive it. Strong enough to get through it and come out on the other side. But this, what was going on with them in that current moment. She wasn't sure if she possessed the strength for that. Danny's hand paused for the first time, his thumb in the small dip at the bottom of her throat. His fingers traveled up her neck and all of a sudden they were on her face, her chin and then her lips. She felt like her insides were turning to mush.

"I'm going to kiss you," Danny declared softly as his eyes hovered at her mouth. He already had her full attention, but he wanted to make sure that the gravity of the situation wasn't lost on her, and that what was impending wasn't a shock.

He didn't want her to run. She had those instincts in spades.

"The last time you tried to kiss me, it didn't go so well," Lacey countered almost sarcastically, the fact that she had her wit in any capacity was surprising.

"Yeah well, we were kids then," Danny pointed out. "But we're not anymore."

"I guess not." Lacey agreed, she felt like she was on pins and needles as she waited for him to make his move. She was in too deep now, the electricity was too much. The seemingly unending eye contact duel from heaven had wrung her dry. She was starting to do and feel things against her own accord.

With her hand still on his face and his still on her neck, Danny closed the distance between them with a gentle ease. His lips touched hers just barely, but it was enough to cause chills to run throughout her body, as she dug her fingers into the inside of his arm. Danny didn't make any move to deliver more than the sweet brushing of lips for a few seconds. Lacey felt absolutely overwhelmed with anticipation and wondered if this divine torture was due to him being inexperienced or just wanting to savor the moment. It turned out to be the latter.

Danny kissed her again with greater purpose, using his mouth to explore hers. Lacey deepened the kiss because she simply couldn't help herself, she did it without thinking, she was one big ball of captivation and need. She brought both of her arms up and latched them around his neck, as their bodies met and went deliciously flush against the other. Before either one of them was aware how it happened, or why or who initiated it, the pace of the kiss quickened to an almost desperate heightened level. Lacey felt her back hit the wall, which was confusing because she hadn't even realized that they were moving. Their mouths parted just long enough for Lacey to kiss the side of his face where she had hit him, before their lips collided once more.

Lacey held onto him like an anchor. She felt herself clawing at his back and neck to pull him closer, which was impossible because he was already pinning her to the wall with his body. The energy reverberating between their bodies was indescribable. Lacey sighed into his mouth as they both battled to control the other's lips. It was this gloriously hot tug of war. His hands were everywhere and she felt herself involuntarily jerk her hips upward into his. The groan that escaped his throat was supremely authentic. Danny's mouth released hers as he started kissing her jaw and neck, every now and then letting his teeth graze her delicately.

"Fuck," Lacey gasped loudly, as she felt her whole body hum, her back arch and a sensation that made her clench her thighs tightly together.

She could feel his growing excitement against her leg. As she was trying to catch her breath, she felt like she was slowly losing her mind. What he was doing to her was maddening. How had she allowed this to happen? How had she let this gravitational force between the two of them get this out of hand? What was she even doing? She couldn't even blame it completely on teenage hormones. Was she really this type of person? The type of person who didn't keep their word? The type of person who cheated on her boyfriend? The type of person that was recklessly dishonest?

"Lace," Danny mumbled into her neck, he pulled back just slightly to look at her and his lips were on hers again. He felt downright consumed. Everything about her and her mouth and what they were doing and her body and the way that she smelled, was intoxicating.

"Danny," Lacey almost whined against his mouth. "We can't do this. We have to stop."

Danny stopped without hesitation, although it was the last thing he wanted to do. He pushed himself off of her by putting his hand on the wall by her head. Danny tried to catch her eyes but she wouldn't engage him. She dropped her head and her hair fell in her face, adequately hiding it. They both breathed heavily and in raggedy spurts, still relishing in the body heat of the other person.

"Lacey, look at me," Danny requested. But that was the last thing she could do, she had to get out of there and away from him before she messed up even worse than she just had. She couldn't bear to look into his eyes. Her body was firing off on every cylinder, to the point that she was trembling.

"I have to go," Lacey muttered as she quickly slid out of the space between him and her. She accurately anticipated his movement when he reached out to grab her arm, she avoided it and kept walking towards the door.

"Lacey," Danny called out to her. She turned around once she got to the door. Their eyes met like laser beams.

"I meant what I said before," Lacey explained almost defiantly, but it was a half hearted, meek type of defiance. And just like that she was out the door.

Danny stood there dumbfounded, a sneaky bit of frustration and anger sprung to life inside of him and he hit the wall to release it. He took a deep breath and told himself that whatever plan she had come there with to exit from his life, just became infinitely more convoluted because of what had taken place.

Lacey got into her car and slammed the door, she couldn't even put the keys in the ignition because her hands were shaking so badly. She was in a worst predicament now than she had been when she pulled into his driveway. Managing to insist that they stay out of each other's lives was going to be nearly impossible after what happened. She smacked her steering wheel and cursed loudly, she was so completely wrought with emotions. She was exhausted.

Lacey had went to his house to solidify the end and instead, it was only the beginning.


End file.
